A brain tumour is a growth of cells in the brain that multiplies in an abnormal, uncontrollable way.
Brain tumours are graded according to how fast they grow and how likely they are to grow back after treatment.
Grade 1 and 2 tumours are low grade, and grade 3 and 4 tumours are high grade.
There are 2 main types of brain tumour:
The Cancer Research UK website also has more information about specific types of brain tumours.
The symptoms of a brain tumour vary depending on the exact part of the brain affected.
Common symptoms include:
Sometimes you may not have any symptoms to begin with or they may only develop very slowly over time.
See a GP if you have the above symptoms, particularly if you have a severe and persistent headache.
You may not have a brain tumour, but these types of symptoms should be checked out.
If your GP cannot identify a more likely cause of your symptoms, they may refer you to a neurologist (a brain and nervous system specialist) for further assessment and tests, such as a brain scan.
Brain tumours can affect people of any age, including children, although they tend to be more common in older adults.
More than 9,000 people are diagnosed with primary brain tumours in the UK each year, of which about half are cancerous. Many others are diagnosed with secondary brain tumours.
The cause of most brain tumours is unknown, but there are a number of risk factors that may increase your chances of developing a brain tumour.
Risk factors include:
The Cancer Research UK website has more information about the risks and causes of brain tumours.
If you have a brain tumour, your treatment will depend on:
Treatments for brain tumours include:
After being diagnosed with a brain tumour, steroids may be prescribed to help reduce swelling around the tumour.
Surgery is often used to remove brain tumours. The aim is to remove as much abnormal tissue as safely as possible.
It's not always possible to remove all of the tumour, so further treatment with radiotherapy or chemotherapy may be needed to treat any abnormal cells left behind.
Treatment for non-cancerous tumours is often successful and a full recovery is possible.
Sometimes there's a small chance the tumour could return, so you may need regular follow-up appointments to monitor this.
The Cancer Research UK website has more information about treatment for brain tumours.
If you have a brain tumour, your outlook will depend on a number of factors.
These include:
Survival rates are difficult to predict because brain tumours are rare and there are many different types.
Your doctor will be able to give you more information about your outlook.
Generally, around 15 out of every 100 people with a cancerous brain tumour will survive for 5 years or more after being diagnosed.
The Cancer Research UK website has more information about survival rates for different types of brain tumour.
Page last reviewed: Sun Mar 2020 Next review due: Sun Mar 2020